28 April, 2023 | Friday of the Third Week of Easter

April 27, 2023

Gospel Jn 6:52-59

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,

“How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them,

“Amen, amen, I say to you,

unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,

you do not have life within you.

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood

has eternal life,

and I will raise him on the last day.

For my Flesh is true food,

and my Blood is true drink.

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood

remains in me and I in him.

Just as the living Father sent me

and I have life because of the Father,

so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven.

Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,

whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Reflection

Hearing Christ speaks of eating his flesh, many in the crowd took his words as an invitation to cannibalism. However, Christ meant it in a sacramental way. In the Eucharist, which he would institute at the Last Supper, bread and wine would be changed into his body and blood though we do not see it, which the church calls transubstantiation is for the spiritual nourishment of the faithful. There is the real presence of Jesus. When we eat his body and drink his blood, Christ imparts supernatural life, which binds us closer to Him and prepares us for eternity in heaven. We often take it for granted, and it becomes habitual without much preparation.